A quick figure crossed through the attack at the right moment, dispelling it completely. After landing, a small girl stood up. Her long, dark velvet cape fluttered. She adjusted her glasses and faced the man, introducing herself: "Raytto Caster, First Commander of the UMBRAS Trinity! Leave this girl alone!"
"Princess of Franpari… How did you know about this subject?!" he exclaimed, irritated.
"It was simple! Her mother told me everything. Nothing special."
She positioned herself in a combat stance and, with the palm of one hand, provoked him: "Come on, then! Dark Knight."
He gripped his sword with one hand and pointed it, channeling a high current and firing like a bolt of lightning. "Raycaliburn! Puntura fulminea!"
The young girl launched herself into the air in an instant and finished with an aerial kick. "Effondrement du mortier!"
She twisted his face momentarily, throwing him off balance, but he remained standing. With a strong punch, he tried to hit her leg. She performed a backflip and returned to her original stance.
The knight fired again, gripping his sword and leaping into a downward slash, forcing her to duck. She jumped into another technique against him. "Ancre haute!"
Her punch struck the sword, sending it flying far away. Then the girl executed a two-foot flying kick. He defended with both arms. They both landed on their feet.
The young girl put on a pair of red rubber-lined leather gloves. She returned to a focused state, balancing her breathing. She took a deep breath and resumed her martial stance.
The lord reached his hand toward the fallen sword, pulling it back to him. He concentrated a high voltage onto the blade and exploded once more with full force.
"Raycaliburn! Campo di tempesta!" An enormous shockwave expanded through the area, colliding with Karin, who took the full impact. The young girl screamed in agony.
"Karin!" She ran to her to see how she was.
"I'm all right, miss, but I don't know how much longer I can hold on…"
"I'll end this quickly. Your mother will arrive soon to help. Hold on tight!"
Karin nodded in agreement. The little girl assumed a combat stance, more aggressively than before.
She ran as fast as she could toward him. With a small leap during her sprint, she launched into a kicking technique. "Lutte impériale, quatrième forme, Briseur de barricade!"
He put his sword forward and defended against her flying kick. She struck, then leaped over the sword and kicked in a short burst, continuing the assault. "Invasion des troupes!"
He was cornered and crushed against a stone pillar, striking his rib. But he caught her foot immediately, then spun his body into a roundhouse kick, twirling and trying to hit her head. "Tour de fusil!"
With his other hand, he defended. A kick to her stomach sent her flying far away, spinning and bouncing across the floor until she stopped against a wall.
"Alice Leblanc! I'll finish both of you!"
He charged toward the ground, pressing his palms against the wet floor and discharging an enormous voltage across it.
Fearing that the refugee would be electrocuted, she tried to get up. A quick paper seal was thrown and stuck onto her back. A dense, bluish energy enveloped her.
A tall young woman emerged from the windows above the dungeon.
With a quick sword strike, she shattered the glass and leaped down to where they were. Karin shouted to her: "Mother! Is that you?!"
Her long brown hair fluttered during the fall. She caught her daughter in her arms and said: "We'll talk later, Karin. We need to get out of here."
The girl stood up quickly and ran closer. The woman opened her leather pouch at her waist and took out two seals. She threw one at the ceiling above. The letters on the seal glowed orange, and she whispered: "Bakuhatsu!"
The seal ignited, exploding the ceiling above and shattering enormous chunks of rubble. The large rocks separated him from the others, but a sharp pain was felt in her stomach, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. "Alice! Let's get out of here."
"Yes, my lady!"
The princess approached, touching her shoulder. The lady used the last seal she had taken. It glowed green, and she whispered again: "Modoru…"
The three vanished and materialized on the ground floor above the dungeon. Still holding her daughter in her arms, the two began running toward the exit. But a massive army surrounded them. The great crowd of guards were enormous brutes. Every single one of them had at least a metallic part on their body.
The hall was destroyed with a gaping hole behind them and an army ahead. Princess Alice reached to her waist and took out a device resembling a communicator. She pressed a red button and shouted: "It's your turn to shine, 'most important person in the world'!"
A shrill sound came from afar. Massive explosions opened an escape route for them. An orange car approached at high speed. With a controlled drift, the back door swung open.
Mother, daughter, and princess climbed in and shut the door in the blink of an eye. The lord stepped hard on the accelerator with a quick gear shift. As they sped away, he rapidly pressed several buttons, activating a shield to protect the car from external threats.
The young girl asked her mother: "Mother… What happened during these two years?"
She was emotional, wondering if everyone was all right or what had happened after watching her father die in her arms. Her mother held her hand firmly and said:
"Karin, unfortunately, all the feudal lords and the territory of Tsugaki have been taken. Fortunately, no one else died besides him…"
She looked at the princess ahead, still in her mother's arms, and asked, trying to lighten the mood: "If you please, miss, who might you be?"
The driver intervened and exclaimed to her: "You, Miss Karin, even being royalty, don't you know her?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hunter. We still haven't been able to teach her about that…"
"Who is he, Mother?" she asked, confused.
The girl looked at the lord. His short golden hair shone in the light of the rising sun. He glanced at the rearview mirror, looking at her with his deep emerald eyes, and said to her:
"Miss Karin, my name is Hunter Rutherford… I apologize for my rudeness earlier. It was just a habit."
"And miss, be very careful how you speak to me in public places. I am considered 'the most important person in the world.'"